Scotland

INTRODUCTION

Most of Juan and Hemanth's trip to the U.K. was spent in Scotland since Hemanth had never been there. While evident in a few of these pictures, all of Scotland is very green and there are lambs everywhere. There are huge valleys and fields along the highways such that you could take a picture almost anywhere.

Jedburgh

The poor Jedburgh Abbey from 1138 is stupendous but it's kind of falling apart. The lack of roof however makes it different than other famous abbeys, which is beneficial to its touristical apeal.
Across the street from the Jedburgh Abbey is this far more functional church. Juan and Hemanth stopped at Jedburgh on their way from York to Edinburgh.
On the way from Jedburgh to Edinburgh we passed by this bridge, which we weren't able to find information about. At best it could be a Roman bridge from a long time ago or at worst it could be a train bridge from ye olde 1999. But it is exemplary of the typical thing you just happen to see when driving around Scotland.

Edinburgh

This is the Bank of Scotland in Edinburgh, which looks best here at night. The center of Edinburgh is a long straight valley, and many famous buildings like this are hanging out over the edge of the cliff. We tried to go inside this museum later but it was closed.
This is a kilt store, called "Hector Russell Kiltmaker". You don't see everyone wearing kilts in the street, and even if you do they're more like skirts or shirt without the high degree of elaboration found here. However, they're a good replacement for both military uniforms as well as tuxedos. There are also, of course, some fully dressed bagpipe players on the street playing for change.
This Scott monument is surprising gothic. It also looks best here at night. It is a type of park statue on the oppisite of the valley where the Bank, Castle, and Cathedral are. The Scott Monument is probably the best attraction on it's own side.
Here is a movie of the valley in Edinburgh. From left to right are the bank, the churches, and finally the castle. All these buildings run across a central street running across the hill called the "Royal Mile".
This is a good part inside the St. Gile's cathedral of Edinburgh. The stained glass here is more surrounded by stone, as opposed to the Abbey in York. This is also more like the Spanish cathedrals.
This is the Thistle Chaple inside of St. Gile's cathedral. The woodworking in here is very elaborate and the top of the room is surrounded with stained glass.
This is the biggest of all Scottish castles, the Edinburg Castle, which is surrounded by cliff on three of the four sides. This castle has several musuems and exhibits inside, including the "Honours of Scotland" treasures and the military museum.
This was a bagpipe player which we later found out was part of a wedding that was going on in the chapel at the center of the castle. You probably have to be in the military to get married here. The Scottish would always use bagpipes in the middle of their battles to keep up esteem.
This photo shows the Whiskey Heritage Musuem across the street from the Bank of Scotland. It was from this location that Hemanth took a picture with a guy dressed up as Braveheart which has since been lost for the purposes of this page. It's not true that the Scottish people spend their lives drinking whiskey. Some locals told us they drink "everything and anything". The whiskey in Scotland takes very good, and is little bit more like rum.
This is an old building on the Royal Mile which they've changed into the "Scottish Genealogy Society Library & Family History Centre". The Scottish people put a lot of importance in their descendance, and furthurmore in their influence around the world.
At one end of the Royal Mile is the Edinburgh Castle. Here on the other side is the Palace of Holyroodhouse. When the Queen comes to Scotland she stays here. Mary, Queen of Scots also used to live here.

Glasgow

This is the University of Glasgow, with the park in front. The University is the most famous building here, and there are many students that live in the central part of the city. Any kind of heat here causes the parks and garden to become full with lightly dressed people.
This is the Glasgow Art Museum on Kelvingrove. It is within a park and is actually free, a fact which we didn't know and therefore prevented us from exploring inside.
This is the Glasgow Cathedral, a pre-reformation cathedral. Compared to many of of the Spanish cathedrals U.K. cathedrals are typically geometric and organized. Also, there are no buildings surrounding the cathedral.
This cemetery is on the hills behind the cathedral. It is the "Glasgow Necropolis" (city of the dead!). It was based on another cemetery, the Pére la Chaise in Paris. It looks like an old countryside cemetery but it is in the middle of the city.
This is St. Georges Square, perhaps the most metropolitan plaza in Glasgow. There is a subway in Glasgow (or Underground, from the British influence), and Glasgow is the most metropolitan city of Scotland despite that it is only half an hour away form Edinburgh (the capital). Juan and Hemanth realized that these streets are more crowded at 2:00 AM, when the city cerfew comes into effect, than in the middle of the day. I guess that backfired.
This is the midget car section of the Glasgow Museum of Transportation. The blue car is perhaps the most famous, a BMW Izetta, most famous in America because Steve Urkel has one. Unfortunately they do not let you open the single front door to see what it's like.
This strange vehicle is drivable, but only from the bottom. The car on top is a kind of 70ish Mini. We saw little use for this vehicle except as the glorious centrepiece of the Glasgow Museum of Transportation.
This is the famous Templeton Carpet Factory building accross from the park on the day of a fair. This waas buit in 1889 and designed by William Leiper.

Southren Scotland

Our travels around the South of Scotland were centered here, in this Bed and Breakfast of Dumfries. This is the Armstrong House (Hawthorn Bank) and we recommend everybody to come here. You could stay here for $30 or in an abandoned trailer home outside of town for $300. This of course is the breakfast part.
This is Drumlanrig Castle, one of the best, although our visit was purely coincidental. Drumlanrig castle was the Dumfiesshire home of the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensbury KT. The Drumlanrig Adventure Spectacular is not far away (a thick forest where kids can get lost and eaten by monters.
Here are the fields outside of Drumlanrig Castle. This is just a sample of the landscapes encountered everywhere in Scotland. Driving around, we wanted to stop several times on the highway to take pictures of the tremendous valleys, but they don't often have anywhere on the side of the highway to stop. The impressiveness of these kind of landscapes is probably reduced on U.S. citizens who live in the prairie, unlike Juan who lives in the desert, and Hemanth, who lives in the urban jungle.
Here are similar fields near Drumlanrig. This picture was originally supposed to have Juan standing next to the sheep, but they run away from you very fast and leave behind a defensive trail of urine.
Hemanth the torero, trained in Spain, had a taste of the viscous bovine competition here in Scotland. This brief film catalogs the battle.
This is one of the two waterwheels of the community of Gatehouse of Fleet. The Mill on the Fleet is Museum and Visitors Centres number 61 on our Dumfries & Galloway Visitors Guide, our invaluable resource put out by the Dumfries and Galloway Tourist Board. For details, and to plan the vacation of a lifetime, visit www.dumfriesandgalloway.co.uk.
Very close to Fleet is the Cardoness Castle. This is actually more of a keep than a castle, but since there was a house in the centre of the structure it qualifies as a castle. This is the ancient home of the McCullochs, and was the 15th century lookout for the Water of Fleet.
This is Threave Castle. Threave castle is very nice to go to, especially if you think boat rides in the river are romantic. However, it's only about the size of Cardoness Castle, and you have to pay to get in. This detered us from entering, especially since this is the best view.
Caerlaverock Castle or the "Larks nest" was perhaps the best castle we visited and is shown with moat in this movie here. The whole back side of the castle is gone, but you can tell what it must of looked like. They also have very good artist impressions inside. What doesn't make sense is that there is a big covered forest behind this castle (now the adventure park for the kids). You could probably park any kind of catapult or canon back there and the people of the castle probably wouldn't be able to see you, but I'm sure it had some kind of stratigecal reasoning.
Here Hemanth is standing at the main gate of Caerlaverock. The shape of the structure is a triangular wall with the main gate at the bottom vertex. Since this is the only way to get into the castle, if it's very crowded it can be difficult to take a picture with the bridge clear like this. In the brick of the castle you can see where the original draw bridge resided.
These are the siege engines at Caerlaverock, or "catapults" for the unfamiliar. Juan knows a lot about these things since he plays Age of Kings a lot. There are actually two siege weapons here, a mangonel (wheeled) and a trebuchet (tall), although the mangonel is behind here and doesn't show up very well. These siege engines are models and thus have probably never been used, although they have had demonstrations of real ones in motion lately. Observers will also noticed that Juan's hair was under siege in this picture, and Hemanths camera broke again on this very field.

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